Rework the obvious, obviously

If you run into creative roadblocks when shooting, try attacking the problem face on

- Michael Freeman

One genuine and new-ish problem facing travel photography in its many forms is that all wellknown subjects have been photographed so many times that they’ve been picked clean visually. On the face of it, there’s nothing left. Think of a famous location, from the Eiffel Tower to the Grand Canyon, and it’s been comprehensively covered by a multitude of cameras and their owners. If you make the mistake of Googling one of these by ‘Images’, you’ll see an inevitable sameness, which is hardly surprising (100 million for the first and 300 million for the second, the last time I looked). Many famous sites have a very few obvious viewpoints, and if they involve architecture and are in cities, they’ve been planned that way.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with obvious, and if you or I visit one for the first time, we’re likely to enjoy the view as much as has everyone before us. It starts to become complicated when you decide to photograph it… creatively.

Fresh avenues